Montreal Canadiens In Preliminary Extension Discussions With Max Pacioretty
Though trade rumors have swirled around Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty for the better part of a year, there may be more evidence to support an upcoming contract extension. Darren Dreger of TSN reported on Insider Trading that GM Marc Bergevin and agent Pat Brisson of CAA have had “preliminary discussions” about a potential extension for Pacioretty. While Dreger can’t handicap the chances of it happening, the idea of Pacioretty being moved this summer may not be as likely as some had believed. The two sides could sign a contract extension as early as July 1st, though terms can be agreed upon at any time.
Entering the final season of his six-year $27MM contract, the 29-year old Pacioretty is coming off arguably the worst offensive season of his career. After scoring at least 30 goals in each of the four seasons between 2013 and 2017, he registered just 17 goals this year and his lowest assist total since becoming a full-time NHLer. Those low totals were partly caused by injury, but also by the ineffectiveness of many of the other Canadiens forwards this season. Though he’s been waiting for a true first line center for much of his career in Montreal, Pacioretty failed to drive even-strength play at his usual high level this year, and couldn’t rely on his linemates to pick him up. Should Montreal go out and acquire such a center, or see substantial improvement from Jonathan Drouin in the role next season, there is plenty of reason to believe that Pacioretty’s numbers will rebound in 2018-19.
If that’s the case, signing him now to an extension could be the most prudent option for Montreal. If Pacioretty is willing to negotiate, he won’t be able to demand quite as much as he could have following one of his 35-goal campaigns and could be locked up for a reasonable cap hit. His $4.5MM deal has been one of the better bargains in the league for several years, and if Montreal could avoid a huge raise a long-term extension certainly makes sense. Acting as captain, Pacioretty has always spoken highly of Montreal and only really mentioned playing somewhere else when trade rumors peaked this last season, knowing he could potentially move at the trade deadline. The fact that he’s considering signing an extension at all after the season he had proves that he’s willing to stay and help the Canadiens win, as it’s likely not in his best financial interest.
Though the 2019 class of free agents is currently projected to be one of the best groups of all-time, Pacioretty would certainly have suitors all around the league. As we recently saw with Evander Kane and will likely see with James van Riemsdyk, James Neal and others this summer, goal scoring is well paid on the free agent market. Pacioretty is scheduled to hit that market at the age of 30, meaning he’ll have to prove he’s not in a rapid decline this season if he wants a long-term deal.
On the other hand, the Canadiens could feel as though a change is needed for the big winger. With the third-overall selection in the upcoming draft, and good young players like Drouin and Victor Mete to build around, the team may decide to move Pacioretty for some younger assets and try to build a core with a longer window of contention. Even with Carey Price and Shea Weber heading into the back half of their careers, the team doesn’t necessarily have to rush to contention in the next few seasons.
Montreal Canadiens Agree To Terms With Rinat Valiev
Fans worried that Rinat Valiev would be heading overseas in 2018-19 have nothing to worry about anymore. The 22-year old defenseman has agreed to terms with the Montreal Canadiens on a one-year two-way contract that will pay him $650K at the NHL level. Valiev had been involved in KHL rumors for the last few weeks, but agent Dan Milstein even tweets that his client was never considering heading to Russia.
Valiev was acquired by the Canadiens earlier this season when they sent Tomas Plekanec and Kyle Baun to Toronto at the trade deadline. Though the deal was mostly about getting a second-round pick for a few months of Plekanec—the veteran center has been clear about his desire to return to Montreal this summer—Valiev and fellow prospect Kerby Rychel both could see time in Montreal next season.
The 23-year old defenseman was a third-round selection of the Maple Leafs back in 2014, but was given just 10 games in the NHL while with the Toronto organization. After being dealt to Montreal, Valiev suited up for two games at the end of the season and could be in line for a more prominent role next year. The Canadiens are desperately looking for help on their blue line, and a player like Valiev is handy depth to have sitting in the minor leagues. Should the team experience injuries or ineffectiveness like in this past season, they won’t hesitate to call-up their latest signing.
That said, Valiev is no long waiver-exempt and won’t be able to pop up and down like in previous years. It’s unlikely Montreal will want to expose him very often, meaning there is a chance he could break camp with the team as a sixth or seventh option. We’ll have to wait to see how it all shakes out, but currently there doesn’t seem to be room for him on the NHL roster.
Canadiens Unlikely To Trade The Third Overall Pick, Are Open To Keeping Jonathan Drouin At Center
- Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin acknowledged to NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger that the team is leaning towards keeping the third-overall selection unless they are blown away by a trade offer. Assuming that Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov go first and second to Buffalo and Carolina as expected, the Canadiens will likely choose from wingers Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk. Bergevin also stated that the team is not ready to write off using Jonathan Drouin at center next season. Drouin, who played down the middle in junior but was a winger with Tampa Bay, struggled considerably at the beginning of the year but appears to have made enough progress in the eyes of management to get a second chance.
Offseason May Bring Improvement, Danger For Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens head into this offseason with some clear holes on their roster. The most glaring of those needs is down the middle, where the team has lacked any sort of depth at center for many years. The team has tried Jonathan Drouin and Alex Galchenyuk in the role, but neither seem perfectly suited to handle big minutes at the position. Drouin will likely be tested there again, but many have suggested that the Canadiens go out and use their ample cap space to go free agent hunting. John Tavares is the obvious first choice if he reaches July 1st without a contract from the New York Islanders, but others like Paul Stastny, Joe Thornton, Tyler Bozak or even Derek Ryan could all bring some level of improvement to the team.
There is also the trade market, where names like Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Bennett, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and others are still floating around. The Canadiens will obviously look to upgrade, but they also have to be extremely careful in who they acquire, and how much—or perhaps more importantly how long—they pay them.
Even if they do nothing, Montreal will likely be a better team in 2018-19. Shea Weber and Carey Price should return with some modicum of health, while Drouin will have a full year of experience under the spotlight. Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen, Nikita Scherbak and Artturi Lekhonen could all take steps forward to become impact players, and the team owns the third-overall pick in this year’s draft. There’s no guarantee that a player like Filip Zadina would be able to step right into the NHL and contribute, but the Canadiens will obviously be able to add an elite prospect to the mix. The temptation of supplementing these players with some free agent help will be there, but it could just as easily backfire for the team.
Last summer the Canadiens handed out a five-year deal to Karl Alzner who, while not a disaster on the ice, failed to live up to some lofty expectations. While logging more than 20 minutes a night, Alzner wasn’t a shutdown defensive presence like many had hoped and now looks slightly overpaid at $4.6MM. Drouin didn’t quite live up to expectations either, though there is no reason to doubt that he has another gear ready for next season.
If anything can be learned from the Alzner contract, it’s that the Canadiens have to be careful not to fall into the trap of paying the best player available like he’s the best player at the position. Last year’s free agent market was remarkably thin, and while this season looks to have a better group, any of the names mentioned above are far from sure things. Even Thornton, who will go down as one of the league’s all-time great setup men, isn’t the same first-line center he once was.
Montreal heads into next season with plenty of cap room, but with Price’s eight-year $84MM extension just kicking off they must be extremely careful with their finances. With Weber’s long-term deal still on the books and eventual extensions due to a handful of young players, there is a clear danger of putting the team in a cap squeeze by handing out multiple big-money contracts. Even Tavares, who will likely command something between $10-12MM per season, could potentially put the Canadiens in a tough spot despite his obvious skills. Every team that has two highly paid superstars ends up shedding young talent to keep the salary structure balanced, and if Tavares and Price aren’t enough to lead the team to victory they could be in trouble.
Next season’s salary cap is expected to be somewhere between $78-82MM, giving the Canadiens somewhere around $17MM in cap space to spend this summer. That’s enough to be players in the market, but they shouldn’t be going all-in without some careful consideration. Otherwise they could find themselves in an even worse situation at this time next year, even if the results on the ice improve in the short-term.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Montreal Canadiens Sign Michal Moravcik, David Sklenicka
The Montreal Canadiens have dipped into the European free agent market again, signing Michal Moravcik and David Sklenicka. Both contracts will carry a $925K cap hit in the NHL, though the Canadiens did not reveal any performance bonuses. Moravcik and Sklenicka most recently suited up for the Czech Republic at the IIHF World Championship, recording three and two points respectively.
Though they originally listed it as a three-year contract for Sklenicka, the team has since corrected the error. Both players have signed two-year entry-level contracts, the required term due to their ages. Sklenicka will turn 22 before September 15th, meaning he qualifies as that age when determining his entry-level deal.
Regardless, the Canadiens are adding more depth to a defensive group that struggled this season. Even with the emergence of Victor Mete as a potential top-4 option, the team failed to find much cohesion on the blue line without Shea Weber at his best. Moravcik and Sklenicka are both experienced at the professional and international level despite their relative youth, and could challenge for jobs right away. Like the Toronto Maple Leafs’ signings of Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen last season, they will at least be good depth to keep at the ready in Laval should the team face more injuries.
It’s in Laval that they could play a big role, as the team tries to find a way to pull themselves out of the basement of the AHL. After finishing in last place and losing their final 12 games of the season, the team fired the coaching staff and will have a fresh new look next season. It seems there will be turnover with nearly half the roster, including Moravcik and Sklenicka should they fail to crack the NHL. The former is a big-bodied defender who can do a little bit of everything while the latter is a smaller player who will need to rely on quick decisions and crisp passes. With 16 and 14 points respectively for Plzen HC last year, they led all defensemen on the team in scoring. Though neither projects to be a big point producer in the NHL, it’s early enough in their development that some more offensive talent could emerge.
Snapshots: Canadiens’ Center Search, Huska, Carrier
With the Montreal Canadiens looking to fill their holes at the center position this offseason and little immediate value at that position with their No. 3 pick in the 2018 draft, Montreal could find themselves looking long and hard to find a quality center to fit into their lineup this offseason. Assuming they don’t get star John Tavares to bite on July 1, the team might have no choice but to make a deal for a center to fill their need.
The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) writes that there are two legitimate possibilities for the Canadiens on the trade market, including Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres and Elias Lindholm of the Carolina Hurricanes. The scribe writes that after recent end-0f-the-season comments he made about being more accepting of losing, O’Reilly is trying to force his way out of Buffalo and might be a perfect fit in Montreal. While he would likely make a better No. 2 center, O’Reilly is very talented and the team might be able to package together a combination of picks and young forwards to take on O’Reilly’s contract of $7.5MM over the next five years. The 27-year-old still put up some of the best numbers in his career this year with 24 goals and 61 points.
With the Carolina Hurricanes open for business, Lindholm might be a player the Canadiens take a chance on. The restricted free agent has had a promising start to his career, but also an inconsistent one, but likely would get a big payday after a 16-goal, 44-point season. If Carolina would like to avoid handing Lindholm a big contract, Montreal might be able to step in and give them an alternative as a combination of Lindholm and Jonathan Drouin would give them a solid young core up the middle for years.
- Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun writes that the Calgary Flames are on the verge of announcing their assistant coaches that will aid new head coach Bill Peters this season after the team let assistants Paul Jerrard and Dave Cameron go when they fired Glen Gulutzan on April 17. While he didn’t have any specifics other than the announcement will come some time next week, Francis did speculate that the team might be leaning towards promoting Stockton Heat head coach Ryan Huska.
- The Vegas Golden Knights are likely to get one of their players back from injury for the Stanley Cup Finals as William Carrier practiced today in a non-contact jersey, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen. In fact, Schoen writes that head coach Gerard Gallant announced that he expects Carrier to be available for the Stanley Cup Finals. Carrier didn’t play in the Western Conference Finals due to an undisclosed injury has been a key member of the team’s fourth line.
Montreal Canadiens Re-Sign Antti Niemi
The Montreal Canadiens have decided that Antti Niemi deserves another chance at backing up Carey Price, and have re-signed the veteran goaltender to a one-year one-way contract worth $950K. Niemi was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but is still receiving a salary from the Dallas Stars after being bought out. He’ll get $1.5MM from the Stars in 2018-19.
It was an interesting year to say the least for Niemi, as he was first bought out by the Stars only to sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a backup to Matt Murray. That experiment lasted all of three games, before spending time with the Florida Panthers and then eventually landing with Montreal. His last stop with the Canadiens turned out to be an important one, as Niemi found his game and actually posted the highest save percentage of his career at .929 through 19 games. Those numbers were certainly good enough for an NHL backup, especially one that was forced into heavy duty as injuries robbed Price of most of his season.
The question will be if he can continue to play at that level, but the Canadiens have a backup plan just in case. Charlie Lindgren was re-signed for three years and appears to be ready for NHL duty. The 24-year old goaltender impressed in his short time with Montreal, though he struggled along with the rest of the Laval Rocket in the AHL. Lindgren is also on a one-way deal, but remains waiver exempt for this season and will likely now start in the AHL until something happens with the Canadiens situation. If Price suffers another injury, or Niemi fails to impress, you can be sure Lindgren will get a quick call.
Regardless, this is a nice contract for the 34-year old Niemi who looked like he might be out of hockey a year ago. Instead, he’ll try to show that he can be a solid backup for another few years before retiring as a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender.
Eastern Notes: Callahan, Burke, Mascherin
After undergoing two hip surgeries a year ago, veteran forward Ryan Callahan has been a key player for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. While his defensive skills and penalty killing have been critical for the Lightning, he also contributed a goal and an assist Saturday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. What’s amazing, writes The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required), is that Callahan admits that he thought he would need season-ending surgery back in December when he suffered a serious shoulder injury.
The 33-year-old collided with Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson in a Dec. 14 against the Arizona Coyotes in which the two players got tangled and Callahan’s shoulder vaulted into the boards. He lost three weeks of his season, rehabbing the injury, but returned in early January. Despite re-injuring the shoulder in March, he has not let up and continues to throw his body around for the Lightning in the playoffs.
“There’s no question the last three years have been tough for me,” Callahan said. “I think, for me, I appreciate this even more, especially being in the league for 12 years now too. You realize you don’t get this chance and this opportunity very often. I appreciate it and I realize how hard it is to win. And I’m trying to take advantage of it.”
- Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette writes that Montreal Canadiens scout Sean Burke, who served as co-general manager with Martin Brodeur, for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships this week, has no idea what his next step will be. Burke, who has served as a scout for Canadiens’ head coach Marc Bergevin, said he might like to return as a scout, but will wait to see if he gets a better offer. “(Marc) Bergevin has been great with me in allowing me to do both roles and gain experience here as well. So we’ll see what’s down the road, but like everybody in this business you’re looking to get better and I’ve been fortunate to work with great people,” Burke said.
- In his most recent podcast, TSN’s Bob McKenzie talks about Florida Panthers prospect Adam Mascherin, who says he will not sign with the team and has indicated he wants to re-enter the 2018 draft. The Panthers’ 2016 second-round pick claims to have been treated poorly by the Panthers and claims to not have been offered an entry-level deal. McKenzie says the Panthers have offered him an entry-level deal, a lucrative one that compares to that of the one that the Chicago Blackhawks’ Alex DeBrincat signed. He chose not to sign, because he “wasn’t feeling the love.” McKenzie adds that Mascherin is playing a dangerous game if he re-enters the draft as most players who re-enter get drafted lower and get lesser contracts.
Joel Bouchard Named Head Coach Of Laval Rocket
As many have expected, the Montreal Canadiens have hired Joel Bouchard to be the next head coach of their AHL affiliate. Sylvain Lefebvre had been fired recently as head coach of the Laval Rocket, a job that Bouchard will take after a few years leading the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the QMJHL. The deal is for three seasons, and the Canadiens also announced that Larry Carriere, who had previously been GM of the team, will stay on as director of player personnel and senior advisor for Montreal.
Laval finished their AHL season with 12-straight losses and looked completely disjointed for much of the year under Lefebvre. Bouchard will be tasked with building the program up again and developing some more talent for the Canadiens to utilize. Though winning is important at the AHL level, players need to be better prepared for the NHL when they get the call. Montreal does have some talented prospects, but too often they’ve struggled when asked to play a role at the higher level.
Bouchard, a former NHL defenseman who played 364 games in the league, will bring his signature defensive structure that led to such success in the QMJHL. The Armada went to their second consecutive league final and finished with a 50-11-7 record on the year, earning Bouchard a Coach of the Year win. Luckily he’ll have his captain with him, as the Canadiens signed Alexandre Alain to an entry-level contract recently and will likely send him to Laval to start the year.
KHL Notes: Ozhiganov, Valiev, Soshnikov
Dan Milstein, the agent for many of the league’s top Russian players including Nikita Kucherov and Artemi Panarin, spoke about some of his lesser known clients recently with Championat, a Russian publication. In the interview, he would not confirm that Igor Ozhiganov will sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, only that the defenseman will make a decision in the coming days.
Ozhiganov, 25, was visited by Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock earlier this season, in much the same process as Nikita Zaitsev the year prior. Many have believed for some time that he is destined to sign with the Maple Leafs, though nothing is certain yet.
- Rinat Valiev, who was reported to be going to the KHL recently, has apparently not made that decision yet. Valiev will listen to offers from the Montreal Canadiens, as Milstein explained he was pleased when he got a chance at the NHL level. The former Maple Leafs prospect played in two games with the Canadiens after being traded midseason, and is a restricted free agent this summer.
- Nikita Soshnikov, another former Maple Leafs player traded this time to the St. Louis Blues in early 2018, is also not committed to heading to Russia just yet. Milstein explained that St. Louis has already offered him a new one-way contract, but Soshnikov is considering heading back. Also a restricted free agent this summer, his rights are owned by SKA St. Petersburg, one of the most powerful teams in the KHL.